Footfalls

The sound of people
once filled this place,
their footfalls, their jokes,
their occasional idioms,
but we were born far away
where the mountains are.
They created barriers for us
and taught us not to feel.
They taught us to do our 
own labor and not to stoop
to ordinary human kindness.
We have slowly learned
among the others to speak,
listen, and wear these masks,
but we are still made of stone,
with the occasional tender spot,
and still immovable as ever.


JD DeHart
Tennessee,
US